KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 — Mardi Corporation Sdn Bhd (MardiCorp) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nigeria’s Ondo state government to extend the former’s technical and technological expertise in the area of rice production.
The Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute’s (Mardi) commercial arm said the signing followed on from a visit by Ondo state executive governor Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu to MardiCorp in April 2019.
Due to the travel restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the MoU signing was conducted virtually between MardiCorp at its office in Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) and the Ondo state government at the Governor’s Office in Akure, Nigeria.
The former was represented by its chief executive officer, Zaidi Shahrim, while the latter was represented by secretary to the state government Temitayo Oluwatuyi.
“To complement the efforts for ensuring solutions delivered to industry are holistic, MardiCorp carries out the ‘value extraction’ from Mardi by upscaling and packaging it to stakeholders and clients, based on their specific needs and requirements.
“The company has already participated in various other rice projects in Nigeria, namely Kano state in the north and Ogun state in the south, and is confident that, with the team it has assembled from Mardi, they will be successful in increasing the rice production in the state, as well as helping to improve the socio economic welfare of the paddy farmers,” Zaidi was quoted as saying in a release announcing the event.
In a separate matter, another MoU was also signed between local Malaysian company La Ruta Malaysia and the Ondo state government with the aim of building up a group of investors to fund the project.
